GDG- Valley Forge at Gettysburg

[CWMHTours at aol.com]

Well, Al,
 
You just have to look at the facts.
 
Let's say there was an event.  And there were  eyewitnesses to it.  And 
there are discrepancies in their  versions.
 
Those discrepancies can be pin pointed and  measured.
 
But they have nothing to do with the event.  The event  happened whether 
there were witnesses or not.
 
A tree falling in the forest may make a noise, even if no one  hears it.
 
The schtooped tree DID fall regardless.
 
The tree falling is black and white.  It happened.   Period.
 
But if some people say it happened at 3PM that is measurable  in that those 
people say that.  You can write their testimony down as  that.
 
And if some other people say they heard the tree fall down at  1PM then 
that adds to the story.  That is also measurable.
 
And we all know that human eyewitness testimony tends to be  faulty and 
erratic well, that's life.
 
You take the 3PM testimony and record it as history.   What you are 
recording is the witnesses and not the actual event.
 
Then you record the 1PM testimony.  That is not the  event, just the 
testimony.
 
So I would call that real history.  And you can  unequivically state that 4 
people said they heard the sound at 3PM and 2  said they heard it at 1PM.  
That's measurable and OK.
 
The black and white line is crossed when only one tree falls  in the forest 
and is heard and a lying author writes a book that says a dozen  trees all 
fell at the same time.  And if you go back to the forest and see  only one 
tree down doesn't that tell you that the author is lying and  the statement 
is fiction and not fact?
 
And history is made up purely of facts.  They may be  differently perceived 
but they exist whether they are perceived or  not.  There is no fiction in 
history- just facts.
 
When you deliberately, or recklessly, insert fictions into a  tellling of 
history that destroys the integrity and it is no longer  history.
 
Kind of like saying Lincoln and Grant had a meeting in the  Oval Office.
 
If you are going to publicize a book for sale as "history"  then you can't 
have fiction in it- you have to call it historical  fiction.
 
Coddington has minor errors and since publication new  facts have come out 
to conflict with his assertions.   But he  didn't put Grant and Lincoln in 
the Oval Office.  
 
"Just  the facts, ma'am.
 
"  Sgt. Joe Friday. Dragnet.

Your Most Obediant Servant
 
 
In a message dated 1/15/2012 11:54:56 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
atmackeyjr at aol.com writes:

Esteemed  GDG Member Contributes:





Esteemed GDG Member  Contributes:
The facts are mathmatical. They are measurable.  They  are  black and white.
---------------
Whose facts?
One person  who was there says the bombardment lasted three hours,another 
person who was  there says it lasted twenty minutes.
Whose facts?
What is objectionable,  and in my mind, immoral, is when people  insert 
iction into facts in  order to deliberately distort the  TRUTH, as in 
people 
riting  books
-----------------
So when did you take the mind reading class to  enable you to determine 
which is a deliberate distortion versus
an honest  error made by a well-meaning author, editor, or typesetter? 
Best  Regards,
Al  Mackey




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